Munich Must Temporarily Reinstate Speed Limit on Busy Section

Munich must immediately reinstate the speed limit to 30 km/h on the Landshuter Allee section, which is part of the busy Middle Ring Road. The Bavarian Administrative Court (BayVGH) rejected the city's request to suspend the enforcement of a lower court ruling that ordered the limit to be lowered from 50 km/h. Consequently, the city cannot wait to implement the change until the substantive appeal is considered. The city's request for suspension was deemed "obviously unfounded." The court's decision is another chapter in the long-standing dispute over measures to improve air quality in Munich. Since 2018, the organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has successfully sued German cities where nitrogen oxide standards are regularly exceeded, winning court orders to implement driving bans for older diesel cars. Munich is among the cities with the highest nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations in Germany. Precisely to avoid more stringent driving bans for diesel vehicles, the city authorities proposed lowering the speed limit as an alternative emission-reduction measure. However, the administrative court ruled that a limit of 50 km/h alone is insufficient. Mayor Dieter Reiter was criticized by the court for premature actions. „OB Reiters Entscheidung, Tempo-50-Schilder anbringen zu lassen, kam demnach voreilig.” (Mayor Reiter's decision to have 50 km/h signs installed was therefore premature.) — Süddeutsche Zeitung The court also stated that this led to a "waste of public funds" for the double replacement of signs. The case is not yet resolved on its merits. The current decision concerned only the request for a preliminary injunction, i.e., the temporary suspension of the enforcement order. The Bavarian Administrative Court will only now consider the city's main appeal against the first-instance court ruling, which ruled in favor of lowering the speed limit. This means that signs with the 30 km/h limit must remain in place until a final decision, which could either maintain this state or reinstate the 50 km/h limit. For drivers, this means prolonged difficulties on this critical section of the city's infrastructure.